Montana’s lone U.S. House member, Steve Daines, is serving his first term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. And there is absolutely no doubt that Daines will soon declare his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Max Baucus.

When Daines ran for the U.S. House seat in 2012, he had no political voting record, as he had not yet been elected to public office. He ran–as most Republicans do–as a “conservative.” His campaign slogan was “More Jobs–Less Government.” Sounds good, doesn’t it? Politicians’ slogans always sound good. Well, now Steve Daines has a voting record; and, so far, that record is only more of the same.

In the first place, if a politician (at any level) does not comprehend the existence of the so-called New World Order and the propensity of government to construct a police state, he or she is totally incapable of defending our liberties. In the second place, if the politician does not have a basic understanding of, and a commitment to, the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and U.S. Constitution, he or she is incapable of defending our liberties. And in the next place, unless the politician is truly honest, selfless, and without personal ambition, he or she is incapable of defending our liberties. I suppose we should also add the necessity of a politician having no skeletons in his or her closet that the enemies of freedom could use to intimidate and manipulate them with. That’s a tall order; I know. But it is exactly the lack of these qualities that has brought our country to the brink of ruin.

The liberty movement lost another one of its patriarchs last Saturday. My friend, Jack McLamb, passed away. Without a doubt, Jack was one of the staunchest allies that liberty and constitutional government ever had. He was doing it and saying it a long time before most of us were even thinking about it. Jack was top shelf, one of the best. He will not be easily replaced.

Jack McLamb was a retired Phoenix, Arizona, police officer. He is still today the most decorated policeman in the State of Arizona. And just about every time that Jack would reference that honor, he would add, “I was also the most fired.” I think he was more proud of the second distinction than the first.

Jack McLamb was the originator of the “Officer Friendly” program where policemen would visit schoolchildren in the classroom. He was an Arizona Regional Police Academy Instructor and a hostage negotiator for the FBI. He was the publisher of “Aid & Abet” newsletter, and president of The American Citizens & Lawmen Association. He was also the author of Operation Vampire Killer 2000, which, in many respects, was years ahead of its time. Jack was an Oath Keeper and before Oath Keepers came along, Jack headed a national organization called Military and Police Against The New World Order. He was also a Vietnam veteran.

On this, the eve of the day in which we commemorate Christ’s birth, I am reminded of a quote by John Quincy Adams. On July 4, 1837, he spoke these words:

“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? … Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth. That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity, and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets six hundred years before?”

Adams was exactly right. In fact, the United States of America is the only nation in human history established by Christian people, founded upon Biblical Natural Law principles, and dedicated to the purpose of religious liberty. This truth is easily observed within America’s earliest history.

[Editor's note: It is good to review the declaration that started our great nation. The courageous men whose names appear at the bottom pledged everything to the cause of liberty. Some lost everything. They knew the risk and still pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor. It's beneficial to review the abuses King George visited upon the colonists that drove these patriots to take the dangerous action of breaking away from Great Britain. It's also inspiring to read the names of the founders who, by signing their names, understood that if they failed, the would die at the end of a British rope. However, they succeeded and we are the beneficiaries of their sacrifices. Do we even appreciate them? Are we worthy of them?]

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Thomas Jefferson was one of our better known founders. Unfortunately many people don’t know much more about him than his name. This is particularly true of Democrats who love their Jefferson Day Dinners and fondly claim to be descendants of the party he supposedly founded.

It is doubtful the present day Democrats would have anything to do with the wisdom of our third president as they are doing everything in their power to take us back to the kind of world he fought to overcome. It is also doubtful that he would wish to have anything to do with Obama’s party. Most likely he would be doing his best to undo the mistake the people made in electing the dictatorial socialist… and would be encouraging our more timid brethren to do likewise.

There is a popular saying going around the internet. With possible minor variations it says “the founders would be shooting by now.” My thinking is that they would have had the situation well in hand by now and those who had designs on controlling us would be in prison, in exile or dangling at the end of a rope by now. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed.

They were solid, self sufficient people who understood that they were responsible for the world the left their children… and which they lived in themselves. They understood that if there was a problem, they should fix it. They did not have a government to look out for them and hold their hands. They only had a government that wanted to drain their treasury and use their efforts to enrich itself. Well, how much different is it today.

Their made their effort to live in peace, but when the British came to take their weapons, or they had to quarter British troops in their homes, or have the British soldiers confiscate their goods, they knew they had to fight back or become a generation of servants to the crown. The first American Revolution did not begin with the colonists attacking the British occupiers, but with the colonists defending their lives and their property from invading red coats. This is not to say there were not minor forms of rebellion, but that the shooting began when the British overstepped the boundaries of legitimate government and came against the good people of the land.

[Editors note: A while back, I received this article in an email from Congressman Randy Forbes (VA-4) and found it to be so much on target that I had to share it.]

Times of challenge reveal true character. And oftentimes, difficult times are a reminder of the values and foundation that are most important to us. This is true for individuals and it is true for our nation. There is no doubt that our country faces many challenges today. I have frequently said that our priorities as we head into a new year and a new Congress must be getting our federal fiscal house in order, supporting policies that create jobs, and working towards an economic future that is sustainable. But at the centerpiece of those issues are the values and foundations that are most important to us as a nation. We cannot lose sight of those historical threads that make our nation unique. If we brush them aside, or allow them to be pulled apart, we will begin to unravel the very foundational freedoms that birthed the United States.

Last month, in an address to the University of Jakarta in Indonesia, President Obama said “But I believe that this history of both America and Indonesia should give us hope. It is a story written into our national mottos. In the United States, our motto is E Pluribus unum – out of many one…our nations show that hundreds of millions who hold different beliefs can be united in freedom under one flag.”

An impotent general and Defense Secretary Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee that consent of congress is no longer relevant in the deployment of US soldiers in foreign lands. The two showed a greater concern for the opinion of the international community than the permission of the legislative body designated by the Constitution to handle such matters.

As you watch the video, particularly Panetta’s testimony and Senator Sessions incredulous response, it is frightening to think that he and his fellow internationalist boss are the ones sending our fighting men and women into harms way based on the whims of an international community that does not really have the best interests of our country at heart.

July 4th is the day we remember the birth of our great nation. We can never forget that this did not all happen by itself. There were brave men who stuck their necks out and took the risks necessary establish a new nation. It would be good to get to know these men through some of their quotations… some well know and some not.

Among the themes that one finds is that of the importance of religion, Christianity in particular, and the virtue of possession of weapons of defense. Some of their words seem to come from today’s headlines… such was the extraordinary wisdom and insights these men possessed.

Read their words and consider how they apply to this day’s predicatments.

In the early summer of 1776 the patriots were struggling with the idea of breaking away from the most powerful empire in the world. They knew it would be a struggle and there would be a heavy price to pay… particularly if they failed. Yet these brave men counted the cost and signed this document that started the greatest nation on earth.

These founders faced a distant and dictatorial monarch, and understood this denial of natural rights to the loyal citizens was intolerable. They took a stand. Would we be so courageous today?

Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

[I received this from Congressman Randy Forbes (VA-4) and found it to be right on target. The article was originally published in The Daily Caller.]

President Ronald Reagan said, “I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.” Unfortunately, we now know what would have happened if Moses had run them by a federal judge in Virginia — they would have been whittled down to the “Six Commandments.”

At issue is a Giles County high school display of important historical documents, including the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in the display. Judge Michael Urbanski, a Virginia federal district court judge, suggested they may be permissibly displayed if edited to omit commandments that reference God.

They are called the “Ten Commandments” for precisely the reason that there are ten directives, and they must be taken as a whole to remain in accordance with their original purpose and intent. Eliminating four would be like removing the preamble from the Declaration of Independence or the final paragraph from the Constitution because of references to God. The deletion of one word from any of these texts would distort the true nature of the documents and alter their intent.

“We will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms,” President Bush declared after 911. People were angry about the attack on our land and realized something more had to be done. Yet, we wanted to retain the unique freedoms that made the United States a special place in the world.

While many expressed reservations about the Patriot Act that began the decline in our personal freedoms, it seemed necessary as we learned more about the intelligence failures that led to the September 11 attacks. We learned about how different branches of the law enforcement and intelligence apparatus knew parts of the story, but were unable to piece together a coherent picture of what was to come. We knew something had to change in the way they worked together.

There is no need to rehearse the step by step diminishing of our forefathers sought to install as the basis of our new nation:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…

Thursday, May 3, 2012 was the National Day of Prayer. The Supreme Court has told us it this national remembrance is unconstitutional. Christians in the land know something different. Those attempting to drive religion from the public life cannot abide those of us who have allegiance to a higher power than our leaders and government. However, we are in good company.

George Washington told us, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” Even some of our opponents would agree with this assertion as it is a different kind of “morality” they seek. Their morality is not the morality of the traditional work ethic and individuals helping their neighbors. They seek a “morality” with neither restraint or responsibility and see religion as an inhibiting influence on their desires.

Yet the religion Washington spoke of was not religion in the abstract sense. It was a particular religion that guided the founders in their quest to form a more perfect union. Patrick Henry was witness to all these events. In fact, it was through his passion for liberty and dedication to the Creator that gave it to us that many took place. He said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

[George Washington may have been our first and greatest president and founder, yet there were many others who contributions led to the greatest nation ever on the face of the earth. Many thanks to James Manship for compiling this list.]

We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land — nor, perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution.

- Daniel Webster

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

- Samuel Adams

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.”

The traditional view of free speech that our constitution gave us is that in the United States, we have a right to say pretty much anything we want, even if it is stupid and foolish, and even if someone is offended by the comment. In recent years, this view has been adjusted to exclude ideas that offend certain newcomers to our country or the elites who fancy themselves to be our keepers. That we still have some freedom of speech is evidenced by the fact that Democrats and some Republicans can still spread their lies and distortions and answer to no one.

Furthermore, opposition to them… such as this blog is still permitted to function. For how long, we don’t know. It is to our shame that the words “permitted” or “not permitted” are allowed anywhere near the term speech. Our Declaration of Independence declared that this right, along with all the others we hold dear came from our Creator… not our government.

[Adopted June 12, 1776 - Drafted by George Mason, this declaration of rights later became a model for other state constitutions and the Bill of Rights. It's time we get back to the ideas that got it all started.]

A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free convention which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government .

Section 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

Section 2. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants and at all times amenable to them.

Section 3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration. And that, when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community has an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.

As Barack Hussein Obama kicked off his presidential campaign with a State of the Union message. The Prevaricator in Chief tried to sound much more mainstream than his actions have shown him to be. We shall look at any proposals that may actually have both merit and potential for execution at a later date, however for now, let’s look at what American patriot, Thomas Paine might tell him.

Many are upset, and rightly so, about the current regime forcing acceptance of active homosexuals within the ranks of our military. The same regime would really like to find a way to force all states to recognize same sex marriages that are sanctioned by a handful of states that have rejected the traditional, biblical view of the institution. There is a feeling by many that this rejection is primarily because the traditional view IS the biblical view.

However, we need to consider what these actions really mean… and what they do not mean. These actions are simply a reflection of the predominant thinking of a small segment of our society seeking to impose their values on the rest of us. It is not any indication of the right or wrong of the such a position. It does, however, expose the citizens to the consequences of this corporate tolerance of behavior that our Creator rejects in no uncertain terms.

As early as the third book of the Bible, Leviticus, chapter 18, we see, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.” Some say that is an Old Testament concept, that the New Testament preaches a concept of freedom. Yet Romans 1 says, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

Many times I hear the ostriches among us exclaim, “What freedoms have we lost? America is the freest country on earth.” We have all heard that, right? Of course, part of the problem is that, thanks to our education system, media, and churches, many Americans do not even know how to define liberty and freedom. The truth is, America’s Founding Fathers were willing to pledge their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” and fight a bloody revolutionary war for far fewer abridgments of liberty than we Americans endure every day of our lives today. FAR FEWER!

To answer the second part of the ostrich argument first: no, America is not the freest nation on earth. According to the Index of Economic Freedom, which is produced by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, the United States just barely makes it in the top ten, ranked at number nine in the world.

According to Deroy Murdock, “Among the 179 countries examined in the Index, Hong Kong is ranked first, followed by Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Ireland, and Denmark. These nations all outscored the U.S. across ten categories, including taxes, free trade, regulation, monetary policy, and corruption.

I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, “Well! give me peace in my day.” Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;” and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty. Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them. A man can distinguish himself between temper and principle, and I am as confident, as I am that God governs the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars, without ceasing, will break out till that period arrives, and the continent must in the end be conqueror; for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.

America did not, nor does not want force; but she wanted a proper application of that force. Wisdom is not the purchase of a day, and it is no wonder that we should err at the first setting off. From an excess of tenderness, we were unwilling to raise an army, and trusted our cause to the temporary defence of a well-meaning militia. A summer’s experience has now taught us better; yet with those troops, while they were collected, we were able to set bounds to the progress of the enemy, and, thank God! they are again assembling. I always considered militia as the best troops in the world for a sudden exertion, but they will not do for a long campaign. Howe, it is probable, will make an attempt on this city [Philadelphia]; should he fail on this side the Delaware, he is ruined. If he succeeds, our cause is not ruined. He stakes all on his side against a part on ours; admitting he succeeds, the consequence will be, that armies from both ends of the continent will march to assist their suffering friends in the middle states; for he cannot go everywhere, it is impossible. I consider Howe as the greatest enemy the Tories have; he is bringing a war into their country, which, had it not been for him and partly for themselves, they had been clear of. Should he now be expelled, I wish with all the devotion of a Christian, that the names of Whig and Tory may never more be mentioned; but should the Tories give him encouragement to come, or assistance if he come, I as sincerely wish that our next year’s arms may expel them from the continent, and the Congress appropriate their possessions to the relief of those who have suffered in well-doing. A single successful battle next year will settle the whole. America could carry on a two years’ war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.

[Editors note: In this classic article, Thomas Paine discusses the choices that laid before the colonists just prior to Christmas 1776. In many ways, they are the same choices we face today. Please return for Part II tomorrow.]

December 23, 1776

Part I

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own; we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is lost yet. All that Howe has been doing for this month past, is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover.

If most people are asked why our founding fathers broke away from Great Britain, the usual answer is “taxation without representation.” While this was certainly one of the reasons listed in the Declaration of Independence, it was far from being he singular driving force that led these brave men to pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.

It would be helpful to review some of the list of grievances that led them to take this drastic action and risk everything they had, including the families and their own lives.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

The British monarch refused to take care of issues important to the colonists. Problems needed to be addressed.

There are many things going wrong in our wonderful country today, and there have been many solutions proposed. Most are well intentioned and most that show some common sense would work fine to fix the specific problem. However each is akin to putting a band aid on a broken leg. We are being hit with too many different attacks from too many different angles to be content with repairing our country piecemeal. It’s like the Cloward-Piven plan to overwhelm the system.

The father of our country, George Washington, understood “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His mercy, to implore His protection and favor… That great and beneficent author of all good that was, that is, or ever shall be, that we may then unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people.” He was not alone.

I can just hear the “fiscal conservatives” scream bloody murder almost as loudly as the atheist progressives now running the country and our lives. Many think all we have to do get our financial situation in order and things will be just fine. It is, unfortunately, not too surprising with the way the educational system has become a materialistic indoctrination operation and our courts have done their best to remove understanding of the Christian bent of most of our founders from the public knowledge. They believe this does no harm. They actually believe there is a real benefit to removing religion, especially Christianity from the public sphere. Then, they also think we can fix the problems ourselves… or really, themselves. Read more of this article »

Thousands of Christians joined Texas Governor Rick Perry in Houston Saturday as he and many others recognized the failure of the solutions of man and looked to the creator of man. It is doubtful any of the formerly mainstream media had any comprehension of what was taking place.

History records that when an impasse was reached during the deliberations that produced our constitution, they turned to prayer for the wisdom and good will to complete their task. Yet today, this seems to be a rather quaint solution to the sophisticated elites. These are the same sophisticated elites that have had such a huge hand in creating our problems.

The assembled throng was encouraged toward personal repentance as the first step to restoring our nation. Most of those attending and those watching the video feed are well aware of their flaws and the need to make changes in their own lives. It’s not that we can achieve perfection, but without recognizing our own shortcomings and confessing them, we are in no position to intercede for our nation.

The Associated Press ran the distressing news that spending is down 0.2 percent. This is the first decrease since September 2009 – so the Commerce Department tells us. No, unfortunately, it is not the federal government they are talking about. It is the American consumer. Not only was there a general pull back on the outflow of dollars, but more specifically, larger purchases like cars and appliances slid as well.

To make matters worse, these selfish citizens are pulling more money out of the economy by increasing personal saving to almost five and a half percent of after tax income. They did this in spite of the abysmal interests rates forced upon us by the Fed trying to meet the government’s insatiable need to borrow.

This combination of less spending and more saving is an indication many are taking what steps they can to protect their families and themselves from the man made disaster called the US economy. They realize nothing is certain anymore. They know “good” jobs could be gone tomorrow… whether through diminished markets, outsourcing or aggressively hostile regulation. Read more of this article »

As we enter another Independence Day weekend, I think it would be good to remind ourselves of who those men were that counted the cost and paid the price to bring this land of liberty into existence. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans today seem to have very little–if any–knowledge and appreciation for the sacrifices that our Founding Fathers made in order to birth this great country. We can thank the vast majority of our schools (including the institutions of higher learning), major media, political institutions, and even churches for this egregious embarrassment. Accordingly, I think it fitting that today’s column will attempt to renew in our hearts the respect and reverence that these great men whom we call Founding Fathers so richly deserve.

George Washington

Called “The Father of His Country,” George Washington was, perhaps, the most important man of the founding era. Supernaturally spared during the Indian wars, Washington became the military leader who held the Continental Army together when it was virtually impossible for any man to do so. Without his leadership at Valley Forge and elsewhere, there is absolutely no doubt that the Continental Army would have fallen apart and the fight for independence would have been lost. Read more of this article »

This is the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We often talk about the document, but how long has it been since we’ve read the declaration. It’s good to review the basis for rights we have enjoyed. It is also good to see what indignities and abuses the colonists had thrust upon them that drove them to rebellion. Then, finally, we come to the names of the signers… heroic signers who would have died at the end of a hangman’s rope had they not succeeded in breaking free from the British crown.

They were people who just wanted to live their lives and pursue their businesses whether it was agricultural, mercantile or even clerical. Yet they all answered a patriot’s call to stand up to an unresponsive monarch and demand their freedom. This is the day we honor these men and all those who fought for their, and our, liberty.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. Read more of this article »

There has been copious speculation about who will arise to oppose Barack Hussein Obama at the end of his first and only term in office. There are almost as many ideas as there are people disgusted with the path of our country. I am looking for something more than an ideal candidate that can win an election. Instead of a politician running for an office, I would suggest we should be looking for a statesman… a leader with a vision and passion.

We often think of men like Washington, Jefferson, Adams… presidents all, but they were not alone in building the fledgling nation. There were others who drove the cause of freedom, helping pave the way to our independence. Patrick Henry was one of these who guided the our country into the light of independence. This future governor of Virginia is credited with helping his contemporaries see the need for independence and helping them to commit to fighting for it.

Through the years, his words have inspired many to a greater belief in both liberty and themselves. He demonstrated a single minded dedication to his country and its people. In view of the hazardous days ahead for our nation, it would be well to study these ideas coming from this man who loved his land and loved liberty. Read more of this article »

Europe and, to a lesser extent the United States, have voluntarily disavowed God and faded into the dark night of hellish alienation.

Liberal-progressivism’s pursuit of one-world, Godless socialistic government inescapably reduces every person to soulless equality with no meaning apart from the will of the political state. In this Brave New World, history and tradition are thrust aside. Clinging to standards of culture and morality become anti-social crimes.

Europeans, before the evolution of strong nation states in the 16th century, thought of themselves as inhabitants of Christendom. It is thus accurate to assert that everything that we know as western civilization is an exclusive product of Christianity emanating from the church at Rome. Read more of this article »

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